Part 13
'The Needs of the Mills'

-.-.-.-

The Mayor opened the door, not even needing to use a key to open it. She immediately stepped into her home and moved to the coat rack to hang up her jacket.

"Kathryn, Henry? We're home." Regina called out into the house, sure that Kathryn and Henry were in the living room. She didn't want to surprise them by just walking into the room. It was better to give Henry a moment to prepare himself. She hadn't been trying to comfort Emma when she told the bounty hunter that Henry was nervous as well. He had been incredibly jittery this morning. It made his stomach a bit upset.

Regina hadn't known how to calm him, to ease his fears. They were fears she could not protect him from, though she longed to. She had only been able to assure him that Emma would like him. Would find him worthy. He hadn't used the term worthy. He had just been nervous, was still nervous, about whether or not Emma would like him. It came down to a few simple things. One of which was Henry's desire to be presentable. He wanted to look nice for Emma, wanted his outfit to overshadow what he considered his ugly skinny arms and legs.

When he put the clothes on last night they had practically dwarfed him. He'd insisted on wearing his 'election clothes' or the outfits Regina bought him to wear when Henry joined her at the office. Henry equated them to the 'church clothes' his friends wore, seeing as they did not attend more than a few times a year.

It was the sight of his tears that broke Regina's heart. Henry hadn't been as angry as he'd become last night in months. When Henry first got sick he was very angry about the unfairness of it all and had taken it out on everyone and anything, but mostly Regina. It was why Regina had scheduled him appointments with Dr. Hooper. Henry needed a healthy way to release his fears and anger and frustrations, and Regina needed the help, because she didn't have the healthiest track records when it came to emotional expression.

Last night when Henry became so upset that he threw his clothes about the room, pulled out his IV and knocked over the stand it had all come to a head. It was like returning to the early days of his illness, except the devastation that shook his fragile frame now seemed insurmountable as he'd cried.

Regina had promised Henry, kneeled down in front of him and cupped his cheeks to make sure he was looking into her eyes, that Emma would love him. Emma wouldn't like him. She would fall in love with him. It was impossible not to. He made everyone who met him fall in love with him because he has such a big heart, beautiful soul, and bright smile. It had taken some time to calm him enough for him to fall asleep, and they'd had to reconnect his IV port which had been uncomfortable for him.

But as soon as he had fallen asleep Regina spent the night, with Kathryn's assistance, taking in Henry's pants and shirt to the best of her ability. Thanks to the memory and acquired talent of making her own clothes for some time, she knew how to use a sewing kit but now had the advantages of modern technology and an assistant.

The hard word and the pricks to her fingers had been worth it. The moment Henry woke up and she helped him put on the clothes—even as he tried to push it off—and saw how well they fit. The smile. The brilliant breathtaking pure smile that had brightened Henry's face the light of which could lead Regina through her darkest hour was what made it all worth it.

Emma would never know just how much work had gone into this afternoon, and a part of Regina wanted to tell her. Wanted to explain that buying Henry a few comic books and spending a few hours nervous out of her mind was nothing compared to what had taken place in this very house over the last twenty four hours. The last four years, the last ten. But she didn't. She didn't say any of what she wished. What she longed to say so that Ms. Swan might understand.

Regina took a deep breath as she composed herself, her fingers smoothing out the wrinkles on her hung up coat. She decided to focus on how excited Henry was now, not how upset he had been.

The moment Regina took, it would appear, Ms. Swan was in need of as well.

Regina was surprised when she turned to see Ms. Swan still standing in the open doorway staring straight ahead, her face a bit grey.

"Ms. Swan?"

"Oh…" Emma awkwardly stepped aside when Regina tried to close the door behind her.

Emma's grip on the shoe box under her arm tightened and she felt sweaty, her heart racing against her chest, her stomach suddenly a breeding ground for butterflies or bees.

Yes, bees, because they were nastier than butterflies and she felt ill. Oh god, she was going to get sick. Maybe she shouldn't have had such a big breakfast. She always felt nausea when she was nervous and…and…

"Breathe…" Regina advised, taking pity on the woman who seemed about ready to pass out in the foyer of her home.

Emma took in a deep breath as if Regina's command alone made it possible.

"Now out." Emma released the breath while Regina rolled her eyes and shook her head minutely from side to side. "Compose yourself."

Emma snapped her eyes to Regina, quick to anger at Regina's blasé tone.

Regina noticed the shift in Emma's emotions immediately. The woman's gaze hardened and her body tightened, wound up, readying to strike. With a sigh, she touched Emma's shoulder, gently, awkwardly.

"That was unkind." Regina was at a loss for words for a moment as Emma readily agreed.

"Yeah, yeah it was. I'm doing the best I can here."

"As am I, Ms. Swan. This is not easy. For any of us. I understand, in my own way, what you are feeling."

"You do?" Emma tilted her head to the side as if she didn't believe a word Regina was saying.

Fear.

Regina knew the look of fear well. She had seen it on dozens, hundreds, of faces in her many years of life. She had watched the uncertainty turn into an all-consuming, breath stealing, body freezing fear. There was only one time Regina had ever seen, felt, this same fear herself. It touched her, in a way, that Emma was experiencing this fear over the same matter Regina herself had.

Henry. And it pulled at her, the same way it did when Henry experienced a nightmare and stared at her with hopeful, willful eyes that depended on her to ease away the terror, the fear. How could she not ease Ms. Swan's fear? All she could see when looking into Emma's eyes, beautiful green eyes, was Henry. And she would do anything for Henry. Anything.

"I was terrified before I met him, Ms. Swan. Before they put him in my arms I was a wreck. I ran through a list so long of disastrous things I could do or be as a bad mother that I scared myself into a panic attack. I was worried, and nervous, and incredibly frightened that I wouldn't be a good mother. I worried that he wouldn't take to me. That there would always be something between us…." Regina's words died off as she suddenly couldn't meet Emma's eyes. "You."

"Me?"

"I feared that you would always be between Henry and I. That I, as his adoptive mother, would not be…enough for him."

Emma's eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly as if to say something. Nothing came to mind. What was there to say? She could only listen and stare, entranced by the Mayor's show of vulnerability, of brutal honesty.

"But when they put him in my arms. When I looked into his eyes…"

Emma was captivated by the gentle smile that spread slowly across Regina's eyes. The Mayor's eyes glazed over as if she no longer saw Emma standing in front of her but the smiling infant she verbally recalled for Emma's imagination.

"…when I dried his tears and held him against my chest and soothed him." Regina swallowed thickly, "When he smiled at me for the first time and gripped onto my finger. He stared up at me with such…love."

Emma felt her heart clench in her chest. She wondered what that type of love felt like, the unconditional love of a child. She had given up that chance with Henry and in her stead Regina had experienced it. A part of her wanted to be angry, jealous of Regina but the larger part of her was grateful that Henry had that moment and that he had shared it with Regina.

"To him," Regina breathed softly, "to him it did not matter that I was not his biological mother. That I did not carry him. He was an infant," Regina shrugged her shoulders, her thumb moving from side to side against Emma's jacket, Emma watched the movement from the corner of her eyes still unable to truly look away from the open canvas that Regina's countenance had become.

"He did not understand such things. But what he did understand was love and safety and warmth. He understood that I made sure he was fed and warm and held him when he cried."

Regina wiped a single finger under her left eye; it itched. There was no tear. Not a one. She cleared her throat and straightened her shirt, staring at Emma's shoulder and her red leather jacket, where her hand still remained. As she stared at her hand, needing to concentrate to get her thumb to stop brushing sideline over the material.

"It's not the same for you." Regina forced herself to look into Emma's eyes, content to allow her hand to remain where it was for now. "He's not an infant. And he understands much more than any child his age should understand. He's had to handle the pressures not even a grown man should. But none of that matters. His illness, the fate of the next few days, it doesn't matter. Just for today." Because it mattered to them all a great deal. It would always matter, Henry's safety and security would always matter to Regina. And to Emma as well.

"For today. Today he's not the boy you're going to save." Regina refused to blink, trying to instill the importance of her next words with just looking into Emma's shining blue eyes. "He's not the baby you put up for adoption. Today he's a little boy who wants nothing more than to impress you. For you to like him. To tell him he's loved." Regina felt her words stick in her throat as she saw Emma's first tear fall. "Today he needs you to be his mother."

Emma gasped for breath at the title and Regina's fingers gripped onto her shoulder tighter.

"I need you to be strong for him Ms. Swan. Because he needs you in this, almost more than anything else, because saving his life will mean nothing if he does not have your approval. That's the type of person the baby you bore and I raised is. That's the type of person Henry is."

Emma nodded, slowly, tears falling from her eyes one after the other.

Regina released her hold on Emma's shoulder and stepped away from the emotional woman. She cleared her throat again; she must be getting a cold, because the tickle at the back of her throat like the burn at the back of her nose was becoming a persistent nuisance.

"So, prepare yourself Ms. Swan. Because this isn't going to get any easier. And if you have to I expect you to put on the best show of your life because Henry deserves more than just your love. He deserves the love of multitudes."

And just when you thought she was human, Emma thought a bit bitterly as she tried to feebly wipe away her tears, as if Regina hadn't already seen them.

"When you're ready. Come into the living room…the second door on your left…when you're ready." Regina turned on her heel and fled the foyer, leaving Emma to wipe at her cheeks to erase the evidence of her tears as she saw fit.

Emma watched Regina walk down the hallway, leaving her standing in the midst of the Mayor's open foyer.

Instead of going directly into the living room Regina went to get herself a glass of water. She leaned against the counter in front of the sink, her fingers gripping the marble. Closing her eyes against a sudden sting in them she bowed her head, her hair falling around her face, hiding it from sight as she composed herself. She focused on her breathing trying to slow the rapid rise and fall of her chest as her heart jack hammered against her ribs incessantly.

After a moment she lifted her eyes to stare out the window, where her apple tree stood proud and tall in the backyard.

An echo of her words to Ms. Swan rang out in her ears: I need you to be strong for him Ms. Swan. Because he needs you.

"We both do." She whispered into the empty room.

Releasing her hold on the counter Regina smoothed out invisible wrinkles in her shirt before turning on her heels and proceeding into the living room with as bright a smile as she could muster.

Kathryn and Henry both looked up as she came in through the side doors. Henry's face fell, his eyes narrowing in on her as she entered the room. His hands were rubbing roughly against the arms of his armchair.

"Is she…"

"She's just hanging up her coat."

Kathryn raised an eyebrow in question as she turned to her friend. Clearly not believing Regina would have left any guest to hang up their own coat. Peering at Henry, she could see he didn't seem to believe her either.

"She'll be here momentarily," Regina promised as she walked over to Henry and bent down to kiss him on the top of his head.

He grimaced but didn't wave her away. His eye roll and the dramatic way he wiped at his forehead to make sure she didn't get lipstick on him was second nature to him by now and only made Regina smile. It was little things like this, normal actions like this, that brought Regina the tiny slivers of peace and hope. Hope that when this was finished and Henry recovered he could regain a sense of normalcy for boys his age.

"How, how did the meeting with Dr. Whale go, mom?" Henry asked, snapping his head up to look at Regina, appearing surprised he hadn't asked that the moment she'd walked in.

Kathryn held her breath and released it in a happy laugh as a smile as bright as Regina had ever had formed across the brunette's face. It brought tears to Kathryn's eyes and Henry's.

"The surgery is scheduled for this weekend."

Henry tugged on Regina's shirt and pulled her to him. She bent down, kneeling just before the chair to allow him to hug her and hide his face against her neck. She felt his tears against her neck and her grip around him tightened. He instinctually mimicked her actions.

Regina kissed the top of his head, breathed in his scent and relished in his warmth and the happiness settling around her. There would be no talk about rejections. There was no need. Regina had paid her price. So long as it was Emma's liver Henry would live. There would be no need to fear any longer. They could relish every future memory together as he grew up, became a man, and started his own family. It would be a long time before Regina would need to say goodbye to her son and when that day came she would be the one to say goodbye, not him.

Kathryn, seeing the precious moment between mother and son, slipped out of the room. She sent a text message to Graham that spoke of good news. He replied almost instantly that he would be there soon.

As she was slipping her cellphone back into her pocket she noticed Ms. Emma Swan for the first time. She saw the taller muscular woman standing on the stairs looking at one of the many photos on the wall.

Looking back into the living room Kathryn watched as Henry and Regina wiped away at the tears that had fallen from Henry's face, a smile permanently etched over the boy's face.

Seeing him suddenly become nervous again she decided it was time to get this show on the road. The last thing they needed was for him to make himself sick. They had some celebrating to do after all.

-.-.-.-.-.-

In front of Emma were two open doors that lead into what appeared to be a dining room. Emma had never lived in a house as spacious as this one. The group homes didn't count. Those weren't houses, not in the sense that Emma thought of them. They were always so packed with other kids there didn't seem to be enough room for her.

Emma wondered what it would be like to grow up in a house like this. Henry and Regina, just the two of them. Here. In this beautiful home with its white and black walls and the tile floor.

It seemed so sterile. And yet…there was a warmth in the air that the architecture could not give off. The walls in front of her were bare but as she turned to the side and looked up the curling staircase she noticed frames. Looking more closely she saw they were scenic portraits, painted, and there were pictures of Henry. Even some of Henry and Regina together.

Emma stepped slowly into the house, craning her neck to see up the stairs and the photographs of Henry as a toddler. They were professional photos. The kind parents went to the mall to take and waited in line and had the preordered background and amount of copies sorted before the camera even snapped the picture.

In most of the shots Henry was alone or was holding a stuffed animal of some sort. The photos continued up the stairs, a wall of life. Henry's life documented in each snap shot.

Emma found herself drawn to the pictures. She couldn't help it. She had always wondered what Henry had looked like as a toddler, would he look more like her or his fa-father? Emma had always hoped that he would look more like her.

Emma stepped onto the first step, took the second and then a third her hand gliding over the banister. Her eyes riveted at the chronological line of photographs.

There were pictures of Henry in a baseball outfit and as an Indian in what looked like a school play. Then there was a large frame with almost a dozen smaller photos. . It was a collage of sorts with a black background and the word Halloween curved around the top of the frame. Henry was dressed as Tigger, a Dalmatian, a power ranger of some kind in another, Cyclops from X-men, and Spiderman. What fascinated Emma with those pictures more than the characters Henry was dressed as was the woman standing beside him and the characters Regina was portraying.

In one Regina was dressed as Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh, an adult female version of the power ranger Henry was dressed as, Storm from X-men, and Cruella with what looked like a real Dalmatian sitting between her and Henry on the stoop.

Emma looked around the house wondering where the dog was now. Henry couldn't be older than four in that photograph and in all honesty Regina didn't seem like a dog person to Emma. Maybe a cat but she had been known to get her wires crossed. After all, she hadn't thought the good Mayor was the type to dress up for Halloween and yet, here was the evidence. It seemed she and Henry dressed up together and took a photo outside on the stoop or in this foyer every year.

They had traditions. Happy looking traditions and memories here in this house that didn't revolve around illness or hospital visits. Emma was glad for that. Glad that Regina had given Henry that for as long as she could. Emma wouldn't have these many memories with Henry. Wouldn't know the kid he had been in these pictures. But she could get to know the kid he was now. Regina was giving her that chance. Life was giving her a second chance to be a part of Henry's life in the cruelest of ways, but it was a second chance. She wouldn't blow it.

She could be whatever Henry needed her to be.

"You must be Ms. Swan." Emma turned to look over her shoulder, startled at the unfamiliar female voice.

Turning around on the steps Emma descended them slowly, eyeing the lithe, well composed blonde in front of her. "Yeah. I prefer to go by Emma though."

Emma watched as the woman looked her over. When her eyes finally came back up to meet her eyes there was a gentle smile on her face. Whatever test she had been unknowingly involved in she apparently passed.

The woman stepped forward and offered her hand, "Kathryn Nolan. I'm a friend of Regina's and Henry's tutor and home health care provider."

Kathryn had short blonde hair, the color darker than Emma's own and elegantly sharp features. She had blue eyes so blue Emma had to look away lest she drown.

"Oh, oh!" Emma shook Kathryn's hand a bit overstatedly. "Dr. Whale and Regina have said, ah, great things about you."

Kathryn's grip wasn't hard but strong and the way she held herself impressed Emma immediately. And worried her, a bit. If Kathryn and Regina were the type of women Henry was surrounded by everyday what chance in hell did she have of impressing him? Henry came from a completely different world than her, had been raised in one that many dream about.

Here Kathryn Nolan was dressed to the nines, as was Regina, and then there was her. In a pair of jeans, the nicest blouse she owned, expensive sneakers, and her red leather jacket. How in the hell was she going to compare to these women? How could she compare to Regina? Who was an accomplished woman, a Mayor and lawyer for goodness sakes, and the type of mom Emma always wanted. Caring, dedicated, present.

Emma released Kathryn's hand and ran her hand against the back of her neck, suddenly extremely nervous again.

"Would you like to join us in the living room?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, yeah sure."

Kathryn led the way, Emma trailing behind her. She stared once more at the stairwell wall until she could no longer see it.

Kathryn stopped walking in the center of a large open doorway, the two sliding doors pulled open. Emma could hear music coming from the room, it was classical and it sounded soothing.

"Henry?" Kathryn spoke, her voice carrying right to Emma's heart making it pound heavily against her chest. Just inside that room was her…was Henry. "There's someone here who'd like to meet you."

With a deep breath Emma stepped into the midst of the doorway, her eyes closed. As she opened them she watched as Regina slowly stood up and beside an armchair. Her eyes moving as if everything around her were in slow motion until they finally found the sight they'd been looking for.

Henry.

Sitting in an armchair, an IV pole somewhat hidden behind Regina, and a stuffed bear sitting against his side that he clung to tightly. He wore a dark pair of slacks, light blue button up and what looked like a clip on tie. His skin was as gray and pasty as Emma imagined it would be, though there was a soft red tint to his cheeks and just under his eyes. He was skinny, skinnier than she'd thought he'd be, but he was beautiful.

It was when his eyes met hers that she gasped.

She stood there across the full length of a room and stared into her own eyes.

Emma wasn't sure how long she stood staring but it was the sound of someone—Kathryn or Regina, she couldn't tell which—clearing their throat that broke the spell she'd gotten trapped within.

"Ah, heya kid. I'm…"

"Emma."

Emma felt the skin of her arms prickle with Goosebumps at the sound of his voice. It was soft and airy and made her think about what it would sound like when he reached puberty.

"Yeah, I'm, ah, I'm Emma."

Henry smiled, his head tilted to the side. "You're going to help me."

"You bet I am, kid."

"Good." He nodded slowly. "We've been waiting a long time for you."

End Chapter Thirteen

Author's Note: Thank you for reading this chapter and the last! Last week/chapter I posed a question to you lovely readers about which fairytale the characters I mentioned came from. Galadriel-lll you were/are correct. The characters Petulant and Martin come from Evelyn's Sharp's short story/fairytale; The Wonderful Toymaker.

That is all for now. :-) I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will enjoy the next few as well.